Dealings with Schenker

On April 20, 1897, Schenker offered three of his compositions ("Fünf Klavierstücke, Op. 1" and "Legende und zwei
Scherzi, Op. 2") to Peters for prospective publication. Peters asked to inspect
them, but rejected them (described now as "Klavierstücke,
Op. 1-3") on April 27. Peters ultimately did not publish any of Schenker's compositions.

On September 10, 1913, Schenker was approached by Peters with a view to his producing an
edition of selected Beethoven piano sonatas, to which he sent a twelve-page reply on
September 18 making stipulations about the commentaries to the putative editions, followed
by a nineteen-page letter on October 29 proposing the "Moonlight," "Waldstein,"
"Appassionata," and "Les Adieux" sonatas, and the E-minor sonata Op. 90, and proposing the
honorarium. Two months later, communications were severed when it dawned on Peters that
Schenker already had extensive dealings with Universal
Edition. This correspondence is reported in detail also in Schenker's diary.

Seven years later, on March 25, 1920, Schenker wrote (and on the same day almost
identically to J. G. Cotta of Stuttgart, and Breitkopf &
Härtel of Leipzig) what amounts to a prospectus for his planned Kleine Bibliothek, as well as
seeking their interest in a complete edition of the Beethoven piano sonatas, only to
receive an outright rejection of both plans six days later (and from the other two houses
within the next few days).

There were further exchanges of letters in 1930 regarding the scores of two concertos by
J. C. Bach and in 1933-34 regarding an edition of J. S. Bach Inventions.

Schenker's Attitude toward Peters

In the 1913 correspondence, Schenker considered Peters' initial approach "inappropriately
lordly," and its final letter full of "arrogance" and "charlatanerie." He later commented
to Hertzka at UE:
So you might ask yourself why I cheerfully forewent 12,000-15,000 Kronen
from Peters, who asked me for some Beethoven sonatas replete with footnotes. Peters
certainly did not understand me when I tried to make abundantly clear to him that I prefer
to subject myself to hard work and the exaction of proof, rather than put together an
edition on the level of Artur Schnabel, Carl Flesch and others that will already require a
new edition in five-to-ten years' time. I would have been able effortlessly to have
fashioned footnotes a thousand times better and more ample for the requested sonatas,
given my intimate acquaintance with the material, and done it all within a year, and
nevertheless I turned the proposal down. (draft letter, OJ 5/16, [2], May 1914; final
letter, modified, WSLB 211)

And he later remarked: "If only Peters had had the intelligence to invite me to provide
not just fingerings but 'elucidations'"! (letter to Hertzka, WSLB
236, January 18, 1915). The same letter reveals Schenker's disillusionment with Austria
and re-evaluation of Germany: "So why is it that the Austrian publishing companies up to
now (notwithstanding Doblinger [and] Robitschek are certainly filthy rich businessmen)
have none of the quality that the German ones do; why, I ask, if not the failure to
recognize the material importance of great authors?" His estimate of the great Leipzig
publishing houses rose steadily at the cost of UE.

Contributors:

Marko Deisinger and Ian Bent

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Correspondence

Schenker asks for a copy of his C. P. E. Bach keyboard works to be sent to Julius
Röntgen. — He inquires about the corrigenda sheet for the Beitrag zur Ornamentik, and the
publication date of the Instrumentations-Tabelle.

The prospect of an English translation of Beitrag zur Ornamentik pleases
Schenker. — He wants to guide UE toward being a global enterprise. — Proofs of Counterpoint
[I] have started arriving from Cotta.

Schenker acknowledges Halm's letter; he discusses the relative merits of editions
of Beethoven variations, and looks forward to seeing Halm's review of his "Beethoven editions";
he is putting the finishing touches to Kontrapunkt 2.

Deutsch will write to the Beethoven House in Bonn to seek permission to
reproduce the manuscript of the "Moonlight" Sonata. He suggests using the first edition as
the source for the missing opening and closing bars, and asks Schenker to refrain from
polemics in his commentary. Copies of the manuscripts of Beethoven's piano sonatas Opp. 28,
109, 110 and 111 should not be difficult to obtain, and he has made inquiries regarding the
manuscripts of Beethoven's Piano Sonata Op. 106 and Mozart's A minor Rondo K.
511.

Schenker reports the imminent publication of Tonwille 3, and some new publishing
ventures, including a (new) edition of music by C. P. E. Bach and an "Urlinie Edition" of the
Short Preludes by J. S. Bach.

Rinn reports that publication of "Eine Rettung der klassischen Musik-Texte"
must be delayed because a copy of the faulty Peters edition of Schubert's Sonata (Op. 78, in
G major), which is the subject of Schenker's essay, cannot be found anywhere in Munich. He
asks Schenker to send him his own copy, so that it can be used for the reproduction of the
musical text. He also mentions the death of August Halm, and his intention of marking the
event in the same issue in which Schenker's article is now to appear.

Schenker reponds, on information from Reinhard Oppel, to Cube's question in OJ
9/34, [19] about finding a publisher; advises Cube to seek friends who will play his music,
after which publication should ensue. Schenker gives detailed comments, with music examples, on
Cube's two piano sonatas, praising them highly and making suggestions for
improvement.

Schenker is willing to hand over an unidentified "book" [Meisterwerk III] to
Breitkopf & Härtel on condition that publication not be delayed; he refers to dealings with
other publishers and plans for future publications.

Straube informs Schenker that, owing to the acute slump in sales of musical
textbooks, he has been unable to secure a publishing deal for the third Meisterwerk yearbook
with both Breitkopf & Härtel and C. F. Peters.